Nouvelle-Aquitaine
Nouvelle-Aquitaine () is the largest Regions of France, administrative region in France by area, spanning the west and southwest of Metropolitan France. The region was created in 2014 by the merging of Aquitaine, Limousin, and Poitou-Charentes ...
region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...
in west-central France. Its sister city is Jumet, Belgium.
History
The history of Saint-Junien began in AD 500, when an ascetic of Hungarian origin, Saint Amand, chose to live on the north bank of the Vienne River at a place called Comodoliac.
Ruricius, bishop of Limoges, offered him a humble cell. At this time, Junian (Junien), originally from the north of France and son of a Count of
Cambrai
Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river.
A sub-pref ...
, left his family at the age of 15 and became a disciple of Saint Amand. It is said that Junian knocked on the door of Amand, who did not answer. Junian had to sleep outside, and the snow miraculously spared him during the night. He then lived as a
hermit
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
and, after the passing of his master, he lived where the collegiate church stands nowadays.
In 593,
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...
was impressed by the importance of the pilgrimage to the saint's tomb. An urban area was quickly created around the abbey built in honor of the saint. However, this monastery was destroyed by the
Vikings
Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden),
who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9â ...
in 866. By the end of the 13th century, high walls were built around the city.
Saint-Junien is a city of strong
communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
tradition, marked by the municipality of Roland Mazoin, (mayor from 1965 to 2001), now headed by Pierre Allard, member of the (locally implanted party born of a split with the PCF). This peculiarity is largely inherited from the importance of the industrial sector of glove making, especially in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, like Limoges.
Demographics
Inhabitants are known as ''Saint-Juniauds''.
Prominent locals
*
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot ( , , ; 16 July 1796 – 22 February 1875), or simply Camille Corot, was a French Landscape art, landscape and Portraitist, portrait painter as well as a printmaking, printmaker in etching. A pivotal figure in ...
, July 16, 1796 – February 22, 1875) was a French landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching. He is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast output simultaneously references the Neo-Classical tradition and anticipates the plein-air innovations of
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
massacre
A massacre is an event of killing people who are not engaged in hostilities or are defenseless. It is generally used to describe a targeted killing of civilians Glossary of French words and expressions in English#En masse, en masse by an armed ...
* On the day of the inauguration of American president
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
, his wife Melania Trump wore gloves specially made for the occasion by the Agnelle company, based in Saint-Junien.